The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 120 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our research, policy, and training work is fundamentally better when it is informed by a broad range of perspectives.
Co-Chair, Crime, Violence, and Conflict
J-PAL Affiliated Professor
Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies
University of Chicago
Chris Blattman is the Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago, in the Harris School of Public Policy, as well as a research associate at NBER. He studies why some people and societies are poor, violent and unequal, and what (if anything) aid or governments can do about it. He works principally in Africa, Latin America, and the United States.
Chris received a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007 and a Master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2002. He blogs about research and international development on his personal website and at The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog.
Chris serves as Co-Chair of J-PAL's Crime, Violence, and Conflict sector, Co-Chair of the Crime and Violence Initiative, and Co-Chair of J-PAL North America's Crime and Violence Prevention portfolio. He has served as a mentor to J-PAL regional scholars, and has lectured at J-PAL training events.